Among Plants and Animals by Weixin Quek Chong

Trained as a printmaker, artist Weixin Quek Chong chooses to root her art in the tactile, tangible materiality of print and image reproduction. Using materials such as ChromaLuxe (high-definition sublimatable photo panels) and printmaking techniques like lithography and etchings, she achieves varying levels of tangibly felt images.

From 18 October 2018 to 11 January 2019, Weixin will showcase works from existing series Exponential Taxonomies, orchidia lust lush, SUDOR: flores nativas, as well as works from a new series Among Plants and Animals inspired by books about plants at SPRMRKT’s Cluny Court location.

Her technical expertise and choice of material give her works a glossy, almost artificial magazine sheen, which then creates irony with her range of subject matter—be it live plants represented in William Farquhar-commissioned botanical drawings; or more modern, manual beautification methods like application of make-up and cosmetics. Interactions of the digital and the organic, and the effects and methods of reproducing and manipulating images across images, are core to her practice.

Weixin’s approach to medium is drawn from fascination with the stylisation of natural elements, digital and organic memory systems, and the relationship between surface and perceived superficiality. She sees these concerns as material metaphors for human social relationships and the psychology behind the structures and projections of power, value and desire. Through printed surfaces and objects, she looks at the constant construction of imposed and composed realities, and reproductions that replace and represent.

As one of five Singaporean contemporary artists selected to show at the prestigious President’s Young Talents 2018 exhibition that is happening concurrently at SAM at 8Q, Among Plants and Animals is a chance for the public to explore a deeper insight into Weixin’s range of works.